Originally published as: TIC, TDIC ou TD? Que sigla usar?, although the text has been reorganized.
At the time of my doctoral defense, on March 12, 2015, I presented a discussion about the terminology used to refer to “technologies” in the field of education. It is worth revisiting this issue.
In a social context marked by acceleration and the intense circulation of information, technological advances have promoted significant transformations in many areas, ranging from Applied Sciences and production systems to processes related to teaching and learning. One of the major opportunities opened by these advances lies in the incorporation of different resources from what are known as Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DICT) into educational practices and environments.
These digital technologies are increasingly present in our daily lives—mobile phones and smartphones, tablets, computers, netbooks, and notebooks connected to the internet, among other devices. Although digital broadcasting has also been incorporated into television, this technology was not considered in our research, mainly because its presence has not yet been fully realized within school environments. Moreover, when observing the “world” surrounding schools, it becomes evident that scientific and technological development often progresses more dynamically outside educational institutions, which are frequently marked by long-standing traditions and rituals of teaching, assessment, and learning.
DICT can be understood as technologies based on computational systems and network connectivity, particularly through the internet. They differ from Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) primarily because of their digital nature, although this is not the only distinguishing feature. Another important aspect of DICT is the possibility of information circulating across multiple media and networks, as well as the convergence between them (STRAUBHAAR & LAROSE, 2004; BUCKINGHAM, 2012). This convergence has significantly increased both the speed of information dissemination and its geographical reach, consequently fostering new relationships between society, knowledge, and information. Considering the growing predominance of digital over analog technologies, the term DICT is adopted from this point onward, even though many authors originally employed the ICT perspective, which often still includes analog artifacts (PIMENTEL, 2015, pp. 21–22).
This variety of terminologies and acronyms can be somewhat confusing. In the field of Education—including official documents such as Brazil’s Ministry of Education Ordinance No. 2,117 (December 6, 2019)—the term Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is still widely used.
There is also the question of whether acronyms should take an “s” in the plural, which remains controversial among linguists. On one side are those who follow the recommendation of Napoleão Mendes de Almeida (1981), who argues that acronyms should take an “s” to indicate plurality. On the other side are those who follow the Portuguese convention that acronyms remain unchanged in the plural.
As a result, we find a variety of forms in the literature: ICT, ICTs, DICT, DICTs—all appearing in scientific, regulatory, or popular science texts. Occasionally, incorrect forms such as ICT’s or DICT’s may also appear; these should be avoided.
However, within our research group we consider another issue to be even more important: these technologies are not limited to information and communication. Understanding them solely from this perspective has become insufficient for contemporary educational studies.
Digital technologies expand and transform the ways in which humans interact. They enable collaboration, collective participation, shared knowledge production, social and political engagement, and even practices of resistance and subversion toward established structures. In other words, their educational potential lies not merely in the circulation of information but in the creation of spaces for interaction, agency, and social transformation.
For this reason, we have chosen to adopt the term Digital Technologies (DT). We understand that dimensions such as information, communication, interaction, collaboration, and participation emerge from the ways in which these technologies are socially and pedagogically appropriated. This choice is also aligned with dialogical, socio-interactionist, and connectivist epistemological perspectives, in which knowledge is constructed through networks of relationships among individuals, technologies, and contexts.
Finally, we must be careful when referring generically to “technologies.” When we use this term, what exactly do we mean? What concept of technology is implied in our discourse? To further reflect on this conceptual issue, I recommend reading the work of Álvaro Vieira Pinto.
ReferencesBUCKINGHAM, D.
Más allá de la tecnología: aprendizaje infantil en la era de la cultura digital. Buenos Aires: Manantial, 2012b.
PIMENTEL, F. S. C. A
aprendizagem das crianças na cultura digital. 2015. 201 f. Tese (Doutorado em Educação) – Centro de Educação, Programa de Pós Graduação em Educação, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceió, 2015.
PINTO, Á. V.
O conceito de tecnologia. Vol. 1. Rio de Janeiro: Contraponto, 2005.
STRAUBHAAR, J.; LAROSE, R.
Comunicação, mídia e tecnologia. São Paulo: Pioneira Thompson Learning, 2004.